Blackburn's #Brickburn PAW Patrol Brick Trail - until 1st September! (Ad)

Until 1st September Blackburn has changed it's name to Brickburn, as the world's first PAW Patrol brick trail has arrived and there are brick-built characters dotted throughout the town centre,

These incredible brick models of characters and buildings from the hit Nick Jr TV show is brought and presented to you by BRICKLIVE. The pups are big and range in size from 75cm to 120cm high. There is also a 2m tall Lookout Tower, a head in the hole wall and a Marshall’s Fire Truck selfie-zone. Each of the 21 models has it's own fun facts sheet, and if you scan the QR codes you get an extra treat.

Closest parking is multi-storey on Church Street, but we found tons of car parks right in the centre of Blackburn Brickburn and prices were very fair at £3.70 for 4 hours. We used to visit often for the ice skating and swimming pool, but haven't really been into town before, so being able to park across the road was a nice surprise!

Blackburn Mall is easy to find and so is the Ask Me Point - right next to free soft play.

This is where you collect two of the quiz sheets, which have a map showing the location of the models.

It's also where you find the first model, and a great photo opportunity! Marshall's Fire Truck is big and kids can get into it and pretend to drive. At 9 and 10 my boys are a bit old...

Only joking - they couldn't wait. Huge sized brick models even bring out the kid in pre-teens. Look at his happy face.

The Blackburn Mall map was a great thing because we had no clue, and it was great to see which shops were there! It's a good sized shopping centre with some huge stores, but the pedestrian routes inside are well designed for minimal walking - and there are toilets in each corner.

We only had to take a few strides before we had found Zuma in The Entertainer Toy Shop.

Mayor Goodway was standing in the Virgin Media shop holding a chicken. Naturally. She's made from 33,673 bricks and took model builders Jenny Etherington and Katie Grove 87.5 hours to build. I think counting the bricks would be the least fun part!

Our next find was a bit trickier to spot. Upstairs in Debenhams, near the cafe.... we met loads of really lovely people today, including the family who winked as they told us where to find it! You are rewarded with a special photo opportunity with Paw Patrol favourite Chase.

Although we were there primarily for the PAW Patrol Brick Trail, Blackburn Mall had their own Active August Challenge which we were just in time to join in with - it added an extra dimension to our trip and the boys loved finding and trying the challenges around the shopping mall.

How cute is Everest - and perfectly placed just inside Primark. It's a nice big store and we picked up some T-shirts and other bits while we were there. I think it's the only time I've ever been to Primark and not bought any socks!

Everest took 2 builders (Jakub Vetrak and Tomas Novak) 90 hours to complete, and she is made from 27,770 bricks. Possibly my favourite model of the day. She is beautiful.

We ventured outside Blackburn Mall next, to find some of the PAW Patrol cast elsewhere in the centre of town. Marshall was in the library and he was very popular! There were a queue of children waiting to take a photo with him - and hopefully pick up a few books too...

Rubble was sitting in the window of King George's Hall, and there's me in the reflection. A rare appearance in one of my own days out...

We headed back now to Blackburn Market, which is sort of underneath the shopping mall. We knew there was another competition to enter if you found all 6 Catastrophe Kittens hidden in the market. We genuinely only found 5! I'm only showing you a hint of those too, it would be cheating if I gave away the locations.

In this photo my boys know there's a kitten nearby because they've seen the 'model information/fun facts sheet', but they haven't yet spotted the kitten....

We had a pit stop back in the Blackburn Mall for food and a drink before we headed home. There are a host of nice places to eat all around the shopping centre, but we didn't want to sit down. Greggs vegan sausage rolls for me and Hasty Tasty Pizza for everyone else...

Our  final stop of the day was a bit of a cheat, but we were going past Townsmoor Retail Park anyway, so we popped to see which model was in Argos. We didn't find all of the models in the end, but we didn't do too badly. Best of all we had a leisurely and fun walk of about 5k!

The Brickburn PAW Patrol Brick Trail will be in place until September 1st. There are 3 competitions which all have a grand prize of £100 in high street vouchers and entry is FREE - just pick up the leaflets in Blackburn Mall and Blackburn Market. They even supply recycled pencils to complete your answers! 

Brickburn has been organised by Blackburn BID - a strategy to improve life for shoppers, visitors and businesses in Blackburn Town Centre - and is brought to us by BRICKLIVE.

We were given a voucher to cover our fuel, parking and a snack, and as a thank you the boys were each given a LEGO set to take home. Whoever chose was spot on, they were delighted and the sets were built within half an hour! Thank YOU!